How District Leaders Can Support the New Schools Strategy

Report • January 2004

School districts nationwide are taking steps to proactively create new, better schools as a strategy for education reform. Spurred in part by innovations being introduced by chartered schools, district leaders are beginning to create a “space” in which schools can form new.

How National Organizations Can Support the New Schools Strategy

Report • January 2004

Some national organizations that find good schools a way to further their own mission are now moving to create—and support—new schools in the charter sector. The National Council of La Raza is one example. This can be done in some states through sponsoring (authorizing). Elsewhere it can take the form of partnerships.

Teacher Professional Partnerships: A Different Way to Help Teachers and Teaching

Report • January 2004

Democratic Learning and Leading: Creating Collaborative School Governance

Book • January 2004

In this book excerpt, Ronald J. Newell and Irving H. Buchen describe the collaborative culture and democratic-governance structure embodied in EdVisions Cooperative—a teacher professional partnership. They describe how the governance model works in practice, the critical success factors, and the perceptions of involved teachers.

Positive School Culture: Students Help Answer the Question, ‘How are Minnesota Chartered Schools Doing?’

Report • August 2003

This report describes ten of the most unconventional chartered schools in Minnesota. Feedback from students who attended the schools make clear that many families who choose such schools are seeking a positive school culture. To these families, a school’s success is measured by more than its average test scores.

Alternative-Education Programs: The Quiet Giant in Minnesota Public Education

Report • June 2003

Even those close to education policy were astonished by the size and growth-rate of ‘alternative education’. Districts have been creating these new schools since the 1970s for “kids not doing well” in ‘regular’ school. This report includes quotes from alternative school students reflecting on their schools.

New Dimensions of Sponsorship

Memo • April 2003

Since the late 1990s, there’s been growing discussion about the sponsor’s role – in the ongoing oversight as well as in its initial approval. This paper explores whether sponsors might also play an active role in soliciting proposals.

Changing Even If The New Won’t Be Perfect

Memo • March 2003

Opponents of change commonly try to set a test of perfection. They try to persuade everyone that no change can be permitted unless it solves all present problems and creates no new problems. Opponents don’t even have to prove the proposed change harmful. It’s enough just to spread fear and doubt, asking endlessly: What if?

Teacher Ownership and Teacher Unions

Meeting Notes • February 2003

A teacher from Milwaukee describes for the Teacher Union Reform Network the arrangement in Milwaukee—a variation on Wisconsin’s chartering law—that gives a partnership of professional teachers full authority and responsibility for the school while protecting both the teachers and the union on the economic front.

Conversations with Alternative School Students at MAAP Conference

Meeting Notes • May 2002

Interview notes from conversations with students at a conference of leaders from Minnesota alternative schools. Students were asked why they attend alternative learning programs, what they like about their programs, and what mainstream school could have done to better serve their needs.